Addressing-machine.



S. ELLIOTT. ADDRESSING MACHINE.'

APPLICATLON FILED 1AN.4, '1915. vglo@ L Patented Jan. 2, i917.

STERLING ELLIOTT, 0E NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADDEEssING-MACHINE.

Application led January 4, 1915.

To all whom if may concern:

Be it known that I, STERLING ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United. States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Addi'essing-Machines, of which the .following is a specification.

.This invention relates to addressing or like machines which employ a series of address-plates or stencils adapted to cooperate with printing-devices and serve as stencil means by Which addresses are printed on envelops, bill heads and other things.

Vhile having other and more general fields of usefulness the invention is well adapted to he embodied vin an addressing machine of the type shownr in my Patent No. 1,025,459, patented May 7, 1912.

A prime object of the invention is to provide improved means for reversing and restacking the address-plates or stencils after they have been used as by a machine of tlie type shown in said patent, sothat they are piled or stacked in the same order as when supplied to the machine.

A further important object is to provide operating elements, having a continuons rotary motion as distinguished from a reciprocating or oscillating movement, adapted to receive the address-plates or stencils as discharged successively from the machine and arrange them in a pile after turning each one ovei', so that they are piled inA proper relation.

A further object is to provide improved means tor receiving and piling the discharged stencils, wherein the saine operating clement. by the actot transferring ,i stencil troni the guide-way to the stencilreceptacle.r autoimitically reverses thestencil before it enters said receptacle. without requiring anv separate elements for etl'ecting the turning over of the stencils.

A still further object is to provide im-' proved stencil reversing and-piling means arranged underneath the stencil rccel'itacle into which the stencils are piled, thereby making the machine shorter and more coinpact. y

A still further object is to provide stencil reversing and piling means adapted to be geared to the other working parts ot the machine so as to operate with certaintyf in Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2,1917.,

Serial No. 481.

accurately timed relation to the .rest of the machine.

A still further object is to provide stencil reversing and piling means having a yieldable stencil shifting element adapted to pass over a stencil that may be crumpled or mutilated, without injury to the Working parts, and to again come into operative engagement with the next stencil at the proper time.

A still further object is to pro-vide a relatively siinple mechanism, that is at the same time lreliable and certain in operation, for receiving the stencils as -successively discharged bv the machine, and piling them in proper order, so that they may be removed from the receptacle, and again used Without any rearrangement.

The foregoing and other objects and features of the inventionvivill be better understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. i

Referring to theV drawings, Figure 1, is aside elevation showing my improved mecha.- nisiu` the adjoining parts of the machine, and also a part of the stencil-receptacle being` broken away. Fig. 2, is an end-vien7 of the same. Fig. 3, is a transverse section approximately-on line. 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is a plan vieiv of Fig. 1. Fig. 5, is a lengthwise vertical section on line 5 -5 oit Fig..3. Fig. G, is a sectional detail of the yielding stencil shifter. v

The base 10 of the device has a receiving way at its top into which the address-plates,

or stencils are successively pushed from the guide-way 11 of the machine by any suitable .pusher mechanism, such as shown in my said constituting a guideway for the stencils,

that. starting as a continuation of the receiving-way in the base l0,` curves around through substantially a semi circle as it eX- tends upward, terminating in a, compartment or receiver 13, that may be positioned directly over the base 10. The receiver 13, is shown as integral or rigid with the curved stencil guiding-members 12, and the base 10,

constituting therewith a rigid frame-work 'members 12, and receiver 13, has formed therewith, a central journal-bearing 15 for an operatingshaft 16, this journal-bearing being supported and held by ribs or struts 17,-'extending inwardly from the frame-Work members and said bearing isconcentric with the curved guide-members 12. The shaft 16 may be driven by a suitable connection from the addressing-machine, so as to rotate intimed relation therewith as for example a sprocket-chain (not shown) engaging a sprocket 18, on said shaft. The shaft 16 has `fixed thereon a hub 19, which bears la radially extending forkedshifter-member 20,

the forks or fingers 21 ofwhich engage the4 successive stencils, as they are pushed ori to the base 10, and move them along in the curved guide-members 12 into the receiver 13, and While so vmoving them, turning them over into'reversed position. This shifter is .yieldingly connected tothe hub by a pivotal connection at 22, a spring 23 arranged on said pivot reacting between the hub and shifter to hold the shifter normally radial, there being a stop-shoulder 21 in rear of the pivot to prevent the shifter from swinging for- Ward beyond the radial position. The shaft 16 has fixed thereon, at opposite sides of the guide-way formed by the guide-members 12, bevel-pinions 25, that engage similar pinions 26, at the lower endsofshafts 27, vertically journaled in bearings 28 of the frame-work, and having at' their upper ends large heads 29 with deep spiral grooves 30 therein. These heads 29, extend into the receiver 13 from each end thereof, just enough so that the spiral-grooves 30, are in position to engage the ends of the stencils as they are sucl essively moved into the receiver by .the shifter 20. These grooves 30 are so arranged and proportioned and the ratio of driving rotation imparted to theheads by the gea-'r-l ing 25, 26, is such that they are retated to lift the stencils. into the receptacle 14, in.A

alined position to form a pile or stack, as

. fast as presented into the receiver 13, by the shifter 20, the lower ends of said grooves being in receiving position adjacent the de- 'I livery end` of the guide-members 127 each time a stencil is presented thereto by the shifter. The heads 29, have fiat tops, which as here shown serve as and form the bottom of the receptacle 14, upon whichthe pile of stencils rest, until they areremoved from the receptacle. Said spirally grooved heads and means for rotating them constitute lifting-means for engaging the stencils in the receiver, and moving them bodily in an upward directioninto the receptacle, and in lieu of the specific form of lifting-means here shown, other forms may be employed which come within `'the spirit and scope of my invention.

The shafts 27 are continuously revolved bythe shaft 16, Which, in turn iscontinuously revolved from a suitable part of the machine, but thev relation of the fingers 21 to the grooves 30 is so timed,`that the fingers reach the limit of their upward travel at the moment that the lowermost portions of the grooves are `rotated into the space indicated by the numeral 13 in Fig. 5, so that the address-plate is transferred `from said fingers to said'grooves ati the very moment these grooves begin their'l phase of eective lifting` movement. The feed of the address-plates, along the guide-way 11, is intermittent, and both the fingers 21 and the grooves 30 have a phase of effective lifting movement extending through substantially a half revolution of the shafts 16 and 27, and a phase of nonefective return movement in the other half revolution of saidl shafts.

It Will be understood that by reason of the yielding connection of the shifter 20 with the hub 19, said shifter while held in opera tive position, z'. e., substantially radial byv the spring 23 in normal operation, is adapted to yield backward should it encountera stencil that might be mutilated or crumpled, so as to pass over suoli stencil Without injury to the parts, returning to engage the next succeeding Astencil at the correct inoment. It will thus be observed that the mechanism required for handling the stencils to reverse them and pilev or stack them in proper-relation in the holder or receptacle 14 is exceptionally simple and compact, requiring only a minimum number of operating parts which have a continuous rotary motion only, the act of reversing or turning over of the stencils being carried out in a very simple manner, and asian incident to the necessary transfer of the stencils from the guideway to the holder or receptacle that is to receive them. The described orbital movement of the stencils through a seniicircle from the guide-way to the holder 1l has the double advantage of providing for the reversal of the 'stencils in the most convenient manner and permitting the location of the holder or receptacle into which they are to be received, over the end of the guide way and the operating-inecliaiiism, thus making the machine considerably more comcillating parts, and connecting the shaft 16 to be"` driven directly fi'om the operatingmechanism of the machine.l and with the operative element-s driven thereby, e., the

shifter 2O and the lifters 29 arranged for uni-directional and continuous rotary movement, the number of parts required is greatly reduced and the mechanism made more reliable and certain in operation.

While I herein describe the invention as relating to an adjunct of addressing-inachines, it is to be understood that this is merely illustrative and is intended to typify any use to which the.mechanism set forth for reversing and stacking stencils or the like may be adapted.

I claim l. In an addressing-machine, a guideway along which the address-plates are moved, an upright holding receptacle mounted adjacent said guide-way, in which the addi'essplates are adapted to be stacked, plate-lifting means associated therewith, a plate guide extending in a semieireular path from said guideway to said receptacle, to reverse,the

platesfwhile the plates are being movedl along said plate guide, and a shifter rotatable about an axis in parallel relation with the guideway, adapted to engage a plate on the guide-way and move it along the plate guide into engagement with said liftingmeans.

2. In an adciressiiig-machine, a guide-way along which the address-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the plates arranged adjacent said guide-way, plateguiding means, a shifter associated therewith for moving the plates successively from the guide-way into aliiiiiig position beneath said receptacle, and reversing their position while thus moving` them, and lifting-means for lifting them into the receptacle.

A 3. In an addressiiig-machine, a guide-way along which the address-plates are. moved, a holding receptacle for the plates arranged 4adjacent' said guide-way, plate guiding means, a shifter associated therewith for moving the plates successively from the guide-way into alining position beneath said receptacle, and reversing their position while thus moving them, and lifting-ineans lfor lifting them into and supporting them-in the receptacle.

4. In an addressing-machine, a guide-way along which the adilress-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the plates arranged adjacent said guide-way, plate-guiding means, a shifter associated therewith for moving the plates successively from the guide-way into alining position beneath said receptacle, and reversing their position while thus moving them, and lifting-means into engagement with which the plates are moved by the shifter, said lifting-means being ar- A ranged to move the plates in an upward direction into the receptacle.

5. In an addressing-machine, a guide-way along which the address-plates are moved, a

holding receptacle for the plates arranged .guide-way iiit-o alining position beneath said receptacle, and reversing their position while thus moving them, andulifting-means into engagement with which the plates are moved by the shifter, said lifting-'means being arranged to move the plates in -an upward direction into the receptacle, and to support them therein in alined position.

In an addressiiig-machine, a guide-way along which the address-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the plates mounted adjacent said guide way, plate guiding means, a shifter arranged below said receptacle and adapted to move the plates successively along said plate-guiding means from said guide-way to aline them for stackingin said receptacle, and vertically disposed rotary means operatively connected with said shifter for engaging the plates which are delivered by said shifter and bodily lift them into said receptacle.

7. In an addressing--machine, a guide-way along which the address-plates are moved,` a holding receptacle for the plates mounted adjacent said guide-way, plate-guiding means, a rotary shifter cooperative therewith for moving the plates successively from said guide-way to aline them for stacking in Ysaid receptacle, and verticallyv disposed 1'0- tary spiral members operatively connected with said shifter for engaging the plates which are delivered by said shifter and bodily lift them into said receptacle.

8. In an addressiiig-machine, a guide-way along which theaddress-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the `plates mounted adjacent said guide way, plate guiding means, a shifter cooperative therewith for moving the plates successively from said guide-way to aline them for stacking in said receptacle, and rotary spiral members having flat tops operatively connected with said shifter for engaging the plates as delivered by said shifter, and for moving them upward into the receptacle, said flat tops supporting the plates in the receptacle.

9. In an addressing-maehine, a guide-way along' which the address-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the plates mounted adjacent said way, plateguiding means, and a shifter cooperative therewith for moving the, plates from said guide-way to aline them for stacking in said receptacle, said shifter having a yielding mounting adapted to germit it to pass over a plate, which unduly obstructs its movement.

lO. In an addressing machine, a guideway along which the address-plates are moved, a holding receptacle for the plateL mounted adjacent saidguide-way, a semicircular plate guide extending from said guide-way to the receptacle by which the plates are reversed, means for moving the In testimony whereof I have signed my plates' along said guide-Way, means for liftname to this specication in the presenoe of ing the plates into said receptacle, and op.- two subscribing Witnesses.

erating mechanism connected to operate saidV STERLING ELLO'IT. 5 plate moving' and' plate lifting Ineens in Witnesses:

timed 'relation to the operation of thefma- B. J. Novias,

chine. H. B; DAvIs. 

